The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(9)

“Thanks. My mom was a single parent and worked a lot, and Ben and I got in the habit of teaching ourselves all sorts of dances. . . I kind of never stopped. Yes, I know, I’m a big dork.”

She had no idea he’d been raised by a single mom. She almost told him she had, too, but he kept talking.

“My brother’s probably off at a club somewhere impressing a whole room of people, but that shows you the difference between the two of us in a nutshell. Ben likes to be the center of attention. I just like dancing.”

Then he dipped her almost to the floor, which made her laugh so hard she couldn’t talk for a while.

“Wait.” She looked around the room. “You pushed the table out of the way and rolled the rug up like you do that all the time, because you do! You have regular dance breaks, don’t you?”

He gave her a sheepish smile.

“Got to stay in shape. There’s nothing like some NSYNC or Prince”—he winked at her—“or Beyonce for getting the butterflies out of your stomach before a big day at work.”

She shook her head.

“Remind me to try that the next time I have an important client meeting.”

The song changed, and he pulled her closer. She let herself cling to him; his soft T-shirt against her hand, the warmth of his skin underneath heating her up.

“I’ll remind you. Now, let’s try something fun.”

He plucked her hand from around his neck and held it in his, and then at the beat of the music, spun her around. This time she didn’t hesitate to follow his lead. When they were done, she held on tight to him.

“You could have warned me!”

He took both of her hands and stepped back, still dancing.

“But where’s the fun in that?” He let go of one of her hands and spun her around, again and again, until she collapsed against him dizzy and laughing.

When he bent down to kiss her, she didn’t hesitate there, either. It was like a fire had been lit inside both of them. His hands were in her hair, her arms were wrapped around his body, and they were kissing each other like it was the oxygen they needed in order to survive. The music played around them; they were both hot and sweaty and couldn’t stop touching each other.

Theo had always been so buttoned-up, so measured, so conservative, and if she’d ever thought about what kind of kisser he’d be, she’d probably imagined that he’d be tentative, and slow, and awkward. That couldn’t be further from the truth. She didn’t know who the hell this guy was, but he wasn’t the Theo she’d known for years. And holy shit, was this Theo hot. His hand was already up under her dress, and his other arm had locked her against his body. She reached down to cup that butt she’d admired just a few moments ago.

He pulled away from her with a groan. Why was he stopping?

He pushed her down onto his couch and bit her shoulder. She wrapped her legs around him, and he pulled her into another long, hard, deep kiss.

“Holy shit, Maddie,” he said. Her sentiments exactly. He traced the hard outline of her nipples through her dress with his thumb, and she shivered. “Oh, you like that? I thought you would.”

They kept kissing and touching, and as they moved against each other, the already short skirt of her dress shimmied up and up her thighs until it was like she wasn’t wearing a skirt at all. His big, warm hand on her thigh made her tremble. He got closer and closer to her thong, but he didn’t make any move to touch it, or pull it off. She felt like she was crying out for his touch there, like she’d never wanted anything so much.

Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, and would move his hands there herself, he sat up and reached for her hands again. She let him pull her off the couch and lead her down the hallway to his bedroom.

He stopped at the doorway and dropped her hands.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked her.

She rolled her eyes.

“No, of course it’s not. What a stupid question,” she said. “I thought you were supposed to be one of the smart ones.”

Then she pulled off her dress and threw it on the floor.

“Any more stupid questions?”

He shook his head.

“Not a one.”

Theo woke the next morning and turned over to see Maddie curled up next to him.

Maddie Forest.

Curled up next to him.

In his bed.

Naked.

It hadn’t been a dream. Or even just a very vivid fantasy. He and Maddie had spent half the night having fucking incredible sex.

How in God’s name had that happened? He knew he was a good dancer, and he also knew that women really liked that, but if he’d known that his dancing would have gotten Maddie in his bed, he would have . . . Well, hell, he had no idea what he would have done differently for the past few years, but it would have been something.

If anyone had tried to tell him the day before that he’d do something like kiss Maddie, he would have laughed until he cried. But they’d been dancing, and the music had been playing, and they’d been laughing, and she was in his arms, and he’d seen that look on her face, that look that women sometimes gave you when they wanted you to kiss them. Where they’d look at your lips and lick their own and then look back up at you with a smile in their eyes. So he’d kissed her like his life depended on it, and joy of joys, she’d kissed him back.